


Tantalus

by HyperionScience



Series: Tantalus (aka short, sad stories in tftbl canon) [1]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Canon Character Re-Death, Canon Compliant, I'm Selling Out!, Jack-Centric, M/M, No Dialogue, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 21:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9347495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperionScience/pseuds/HyperionScience
Summary: He was starved, starved of food, of water, and of touch.





	

**Author's Note:**

> All aboard the rhack train!  
> Look, I don't really ship this but the idea has been in my head for a while and I figured someone might like it? Centered around Jack because he is an interesting character and the world's biggest asshole. Please enjoy.

Tantalus

 

  He was close enough to reach out and grab him, if only he weren't just beams of light in the shape of a man. He had started by reaching for Rhys' neck, as it came so naturally to him to seize the jugular and simply squeeze the life out of him; persisting despite fingers disappearing into flesh, blue light impermanent, temporary, fluid. The company man had been afraid, as well he should have been, this new and violent intruder wrapped around in his coding as the hologram tried so hard to wrap his hands around his throat. 

  He grew less frightened, and Jack grew to be less frightful, for he found that the young wannabe was much more easily led by those he perceived as friends. His touches (So close, yet still so far away) cast blue light across Rhys' shoulders as Jack's holographic hand passed through, and left only open air instead of the resonating slap of palm on palm. 

  The nicknames came easily, and Jack found that when he reached out to touch Rhys it was more out of habit than out of calculation, as if the only thing he had to gain was maybe, just maybe, the feeling of warmth beneath his hands (This time, maybe, if I try hard enough). He found it easier to lead the young man along, found it easier to lie to him, because if his plan succeeded he may finally be able to feel again.

  When he sees Rhys hug Vaughn, and tuck a flower behind Sasha's ear, it feels like a punch in the stomach. Not out of jealousy, not in the sense that he wanted Rhys, but in the sense that he wanted to reach out and touch as easily as they could. 

  He should have expected it, but the refusal takes him by surprise anyways. Jack was using him, was always using him, and had only wanted to use him a little more. Rhys swears and frees himself from the chair, and in that moment Jack knows that all he wants is to reach out and grab him. He never got the chance to figure out if he would have finally curled his fingers around that long, elegant neck, or tried something else entirely (Though after so long, he admits he would indulge in both of his passions) because in a blur of activity the station is falling, his home and prison plummeting through the Pandoran atmosphere. 

  When he begs, he means it. When he reaches for him that final time, he knows that it isn't to kill.  

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this in an hour, not beta'd or anything. No smut, cause I deal in canon compliance like some sort of loser and also this account is an angst factory. If you've got any suggestions please leave them in the comments, I'll see what I can do :)


End file.
